Dwelling Among Pagan People - Judges 3:5

In the book of Judges we learned how pagan nations were left among the people of Israel, “to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses” and in chapter three and verse five of Judges, we learn how, “the children of Israel dwelt” among pagan people where we read,

And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, 

Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:

The verse reads, “And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, …” The writer began with the words, “and the children of Israel” which means “and the offspring and progeny belonging to Israel whose name means ‘God prevails” and is the name of the descendants and the nation of the descendants of Jacob” “dwelt among the Canaanites” or “lived, abided and were inhabitants in the midst and middle of the Canaanites whose name means ‘zealous or lowland’ and were the descendants of Cana”. The writer shared how the offspring belonging to “Israel” lived in the midst of the people of “Canaan”. 

The verse goes on to say, “… Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:” The writer added the word, “Hittites” whose name means ‘descendant of Heth or terror’ and was the nation who descended from Heth, the second son of Canaan; once inhabitants of central Anatolia (modern Turkey), later in north Lebanon”, “and Amorites” whose name means ‘a sayer’ and was one of the peoples of east Canaan and beyond the Jordan, dispossessed by the Israelite incursion from Egypt”, “and Perizzites” whose name means ‘belonging to a village’ and was a people who inhabited southern Canaan prior to the conquest”, “and Hivites” whose name means ‘villagers’ and was the sixth generation of descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, who were living in northern Canaan near Mount Hermon at the time of the conquest ”, “and Jebusites” whose name means ‘threshing place’ and were the descendants of Jebus and an early name for Jerusalem also known as Jebusi”. The writer shared how the “Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites” were also among the pagan nations that were left within the promise land among the people of “Israel” to test their faithfulness and obedience to Jehovah God. 

When we meditate upon the words in this verse, we learn about more of the people groups who were allowed to remain among the people of Israel. The “Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites” were all in the promise land when the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River. God wanted Israel to destroy all of them, but they did not obey Him. They rather allowed them to stay and followed after their deities. This angered Jehovah God, and He permitted them to remain in the land to test the people of Israel’s commitment and adherence to God’s words. God knows what is best for all people, and because He knows “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”, (See Romans 3:23) He sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind and raised Him from the dead after three days. When we yield to Him as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and equip us with His Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth and empower us to live according to that truth so that our lives align with His ways to live in this world. (See John 3:16; 16:13; Acts 1:8; Revelation 4:11)  

Next time we learn how the people of Israel, “took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods” among pagan people, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".